Consumer Reports: How to stay safe as fireworks besiege neighborhoods in some cities

July 6, 2020

For people with PTSD, fireworks can cause serious anxiety, especially if they’re unexpected. Veterans, for example, may have a strong reaction “to fireworks, because it reminds them of explosions that have occurred in the battlefield,” said Alan Peterson, PhD, professor and chief of the division of behavioral medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.